Lesson 4 The Winds of Change
Pictures Worth a Thousand Words
As quickly as a camera captures a scene, an image can ____ hold of our emotions.
Through speech or written text, it can be difficult to convey a complex ____ quickly.
Yet photographs can change people’s ____ and minds in an instant.
And when the magic of ____ sparks an emotional reaction in a great number of people, it can change history.
The Burning River That Started a Movement
In the 1880s, industry began to grow rapidly along the Cuyahoga River in the city of ____
This industrial growth provided ____ jobs to people in the area.
Meanwhile, steel mills and factories started dumping large amounts of waste into the ____
____ the river became polluted, most people simply regarded this as a sign of the area’s economic success.
In June 1969, the polluted ____ caught fire.
The likely cause was a burning flare falling from a train, which set fire to oil-soaked ____ beneath a bridge.
At that time, few people in ____ cared.
This was ____ fires had been recorded on the Cuyahoga more than ten times before, and some of them had been much worse.
However, it wasn’t long before the ____ fire became famous.
____ was thanks to an article published in Time magazine that year.
____ article featured a shocking photograph of flames and smoke rising from the river.
But this was not a photograph of the 1969 fire, which was put out so quickly that nobody took a picture of ____
In ____ it was a picture of a much worse fire that had occurred on the river several years earlier.
Still, the image had ____ great impact on people.
Around ____ time, the attitudes of Americans toward environmental problems were starting to change.
More and more people were becoming aware of the need to protect the environment, and the shocking image ____ the burning river sparked public anger about water pollution.
As a result, ____ Cuyahoga River fire of 1969 became a symbol of pollution.
A national environmental awareness event was held ____ April 22, 1970, which later became known as the first Earth Day.
And in 1972, national water quality ____ were established with the passage of the Clean Water Act.
Exposing the Harsh Reality of Child Labor
In the ____ century, the Industrial Revolution led to a dramatic increase in factory production in the United States.
The demand for ____ increased, and many new positions were filled by children.
By 1900, about twenty percent of all children in the United States were employed, and some of those working in ____ were only four years old.
The work was difficult and dangerous, ____ many child laborers with health problems.
Factory ____ turned to child labor for several reasons.
For example, children ____ be paid less than adult workers.
They were also ____ likely to go on strike.
Lewis Hine, a teacher and ____ wanted to reveal how cruel this system was.
So he quit his teaching job and started to work for the National Child Labor Committee ____ an investigative photographer.
He gained access to factories by pretending to have different ____ like insurance agent or fire inspector.
Once inside, he would photograph ____ children working there.
He would also ask their names and ages and ____ information about their living and working conditions.
From 1908 to 1912, he secretly gathered information and ____ photographs to expose factory owners who were taking advantage of helpless children.
Hine’s photographs captured young children ____ all sorts of jobs.
These included picking vegetables, weaving baskets, ____ even handling dangerous equipment.
____ is more, the children’s faces showed the tragic impact of hard labor.
When people saw the children’s joyless expressions, ____ could not help but feel heartbroken.
The pictures were later shown ____ exhibitions, lectures, magazine articles, and so on.
As a result, the public realized ____ how serious the situation was.
Soon, many states passed stronger laws to ban the ____ of children.
____ 1938, the United States Congress passed an act that made it illegal for children under sixteen to work in factories during school hours.
These examples ____ that photographs can bring meaningful change to society.
They prove that, sometimes, a ____ truly is worth a thousand words.